The Importance of Friendship- courtesy of Carole

I think this is the longest I have gone without writing on the blog, but it seems like life has not allowed the time lately. So, I'll try to catch up some today.

One of our OFL's, Carole has shared this article with us about the importance of fiendship with other women. It is something I have always known, at least subconsciously, as I always feel better when I communicate with girl friends regularly. So have a read!

Dear Friends,
>> This is a short but very insiteful article about the importance of
>> friendship.
>>I appreciate all of you very much,
>> Blessings!!!!!!!!!!
_____________________________________________________________>>
>>
>>
>>They Teach It at Stanford
>>
>> "I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford University. The last
>>lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and
>>disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other
things,
>>that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be
married
>>to a woman, whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her
>>health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.
>>
>>At first everyone laughed, but he was totally serious.
>>
>>Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that
help
>>each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this

>>quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin - a
neurotransmitter
>>that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being.
>>Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities.
>>They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain

>>things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars?
Yes.
>>Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely.
>>
>>Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers,

>>and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time
with
>>a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out
at
>>a gym…. perhaps even more so!
>>
>>There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing
>>something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we
are
>>wasting our time and should be more productively engaged—not true. In fact, he

>>said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with
>>other women is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking!
>>
>>So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on
the
>>back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We
are
>>indeed very, very lucky. Sooooo, let's toast to our friendship with our
>>girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health."
>>